being berated by his younger sisters for his wardrobe choices wasn’t the ideal way to start the morning. in fact, it was the last thing that grayson had wanted to deal with on a saturday morning. but how could he ignore a phone call from back home? that just wasn’t his style. although it was his style that was under attack just a few seconds later. he sighed to himself, looking around the different stores that he was told to look at. it was all just such a hassle. what was wrong with the way he dressed? he was comfortable for goodness sake! grayson trudged on through the mall, hoping to just find one outfit that will satisfy the judgmental pests that are his sisters. he loved them dearly though! but he really would rather be outside running a marathon or at least training for one.
grayson continued to walk though the mall, greeting familiar faces and stopping every now and then to speak with a vendor about the product that they were trying to sell. if he had more money, he definitely would have bought something but unfortunately, a teacher’s salary doesn’t pay enough for such expenses. he began to get rather bored, so grayson reached into his pocket to grab his phone. when he saw that nobody had replied to his text messages – and for the moment questioned his friendships – he tucked it back away. luckily for him, his boredom was soon to be cured by an incredibly active boy and his funny father, the cool cop guy. joined by an overexcited child, a genuine smile graced gray’s face. he watched as dmitri lecture his son, his gaze quickly switching down to oliver who had attached himself to his leg. “hey, ollie!” he greeted happily, reaching down and patting the boy’s head. “mister petrov, there’s no need to apologize. seein’ your son actually made my day about 110% better.” after dmitri mentioned the plant, grayson let out a loud laugh. “really? you’ve given up on the name goldilocks, ollie? the plant looks more like a bernstein actually. but nemo’s pretty suitin’. did you tell him that you gotta share your crayons to help make the world a little more colorful?” he quickly looked up to wink at dmitri, his hand still on top of oliver’s head.
it was a little enviable, dmitri wouldn’t lie ---- the way oliver’s eyes would shine in excitement when he looked up at grayson, or the way he’d practically vibrate with joy when the other man pet his hair. but he also knew it was a silly notion; ollie admired his kindergarten teacher. what five year old didn’t?? he should, perhaps, have been worried if oliver didn’t feel this way towards mr. kennedy, after all, because ---- as he’d read in some of his parenting books ---- that could be a sign of either narcissism or sociopathic tendencies, neither of which was a favorable disorder, so; he would allow oliver to hero-worship the other man as long as he’d like.
which would probably be until he met his first grade teacher, anyway.
“oh, great,” dmitri started, smirking slightly. “would you like to keep him?? he’s just a pain in my butt most of my day,” he sighed dramatically, side-eyeing his son, who gasped in offense.
“dad,” ollie shook his head. “you can’t just give me away. that’s unlegal!”
“illegal,” dmitri corrected, smiling crookedly down at oliver. “and not if mr. kennedy’s alright with it, it ain’t.”
oliver glared at him. dmitri laughed. before his son could reply, however, he was already looking over at his teacher, toothy grin back in place as if it’d never dissipated. dmitri worried his son would find a future career in acting. “bernst---?? it’s a nice name, mr. k, and so is goldilocks, but daddy said the better name is nemo and daddy works with the police so what if he arrested me??” his eyes were wide and innocent, but dmitri knew better ---- kid was just trying to earn himself some sympathy points so it would seem like it was dmitri’s fault the kid liked the name nemo better than goldilocks. dmitri scoffed, then rolled his eyes at mr. kennedy.
“my kid’s gonna be a lyin’ criminal when he grows up,” he joked. “just my luck.” oliver shook his head furiously at the mere suggestion, eyes wide, and dmitri couldn’t help but snort in amusement; both at his expression and also at grayson’s colorful comment. “why are you encouraging my kid to vandalize??” he asked, raising an eyebrow. dmitri watched oliver grab a hold of mr. kennedy’s pant leg, as if dmitri would soon force him to leave, which ---- well, he wasn’t wrong. he was hardly going to spend the day bothering the man, when he clearly had other things to do. alone. at the mall.
